Rain delays Bronco blowout loss to Kansas State University

By Scott Sierzenga
Western Herald

If the saying “when it rains, it pours” is correct, then there was a monsoon in Winter Haven, Fla. on Tuesday as the Western Michigan University baseball team faced a rain delay before being slashed by Kansas State University (6-1).

Sophomore pitcher Dan Kneibel got his first career start against the Wildcats and it didn’t exactly go the way he hoped. Kneibel gave up eight runs in the first inning and KSU did not look back from there. The Big 12 opponent went on to crush the Broncos 27-8, launching off four homeruns in the game, three of which were three run bombs.

Freshman Patrick Duncan came in to start the second inning and allowed six runs in just over one inning of work. Junior Grant Simotes came in to close out the game in the third inning, at which point the Broncos already trailed 14-2.

Simotes, pitching for only the second time in his WMU career, proved to be a little more successful than his predecessors, allowing 13 runs, but finishing the game throwing the final 6 innings.

Simotes started the game at third base and proved to be a major factor in the Bronco offense as well going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Senior Kyle Galbraith also had three hits for the Broncos, two of which were doubles, and also scored three runs in four attempts at bats. The teammates accounted for nearly half of Western Michigan’s 13 total hits.

Sophomore Jamie Simpson and freshman Jimmy Martinez each hit a bomb for the Brown and Gold offense. Simpson connected for the second time this season while Martinez hit his first career homerun for WMU.

Fifteen players saw action in this game for WMU, which will hopefully help to get the younger players some experience moving forward with the season.

Kansas State finished with 21 hits and 10 walks. Mike Kindel had a big day for the Wildcats finishing the day 4-for-6, with a walk, three RBI’s and scored five runs. Justin Lindsey went six innings, giving up six runs and picked up the win for the Wildcats.

The Broncos will now face Valpraiso University Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=15327

Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 2 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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